


Pop Quiz

by PaintedVanilla



Series: days on end [24]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Eating Disorders, F/M, Family, Gen, Meet the Family, Nicknames, Thanksgiving, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-13
Updated: 2017-10-13
Packaged: 2019-01-16 15:50:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12345798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaintedVanilla/pseuds/PaintedVanilla
Summary: "Fifteen for fifteen. Which is the same score you’ve been getting for the past three weeks.”





	Pop Quiz

**Author's Note:**

> let's play a game called "how many identifiers can I use for James' dad to avoid calling him by his name"

“Quiz me again.” Dolley says suddenly.

James glances at her from the driver's seat, then back at the road and stares ahead. It’s late afternoon; the sun is being dragged lower and lower into the sky, but it’s not yet a sunset. He taps his index fingers on the steering wheel twice, then says, “we’ll be there in five minutes.”

“Quiz me again, though.” Dolley insists.

“I  _ just  _ quizzed you.”

“One more time? Before we get there?” Dolley asks, leaning back in her chair and staring at James; he glances at her again and sighs.

“Fine.” he says, “Youngest sis - ”

“Frances.”

“You already know them all!” James exclaims, partly exasperated and partly amused.

“Keep going!” Dolley argues.

“But you already - !”

“I want to make sure!”

James huffs, “Youngest sister?”

“Frances.”

“Second oldest?”

“Frank.”

“Married to?”

“He’s not seeing anybody.”

“Correct. Senior year?”

“Will.”

“Just got her license?”

“Sarah.”

“Oldest sister?”

“Nelly.”

“Named after?”

“Your mom.”

“And her name?”

‘I’m not calling your mom by her first name.”

“I need an answer.”

“Eleanor.”

“Good. And my dad’s name?”

“James.”

“So everyone calls me?”

“Jemmy.”

Youngest brother?”

“Reuben.”

“Middle school?”

“Elizabeth.”

“Nickname?”

“I don’t want to call her Eliza.”

“She won’t like you if you call her Elizabeth.”

“Ugh. Eliza.”

“Good. Last brother?”

“Ambrose.”

“Married to?”

“Mary.”

“Good. Fifteen for fifteen. Which is the same score you’ve been getting for the past three weeks.”

Dolley hums, “I studied.”

“I can tell.” James says, “You aced the class.”

“Hm.” Dolley turns and looks out the window, “I still have to take the final.”

“Which you’re also going to ace.” James assures her.

“The final has more than fifteen questions. It’s a four day test.”

“Which you will ace.” James insists, “they’re going to love you. Plus you get automatic bonus points because you made pie.”

“That’s the only reason I’m going to pass.”

“Be optimistic.”

“You’re one to talk.”

“Is that you actually being mean to me? Or are you just nervous?”

Dolley glances at him, “Nervous.” she pauses, “sorry.”

“I forgive you.” James takes one hand off the steering wheel and places it on her knee, “I can basically guarantee they’re going to love you.”

Dolley hesitates, so James adds, “My mom already likes you for dating me. Plus my siblings have had enough time to forgive you for stealing me from Thomas.”

Dolley laughs at that, and James smiles.

…

When they arrive at his parents house, they leave their two bags in the car and the only thing they bring in at first is the pie, which Dolley had been holding the entire car ride anyways. James gets hugged first upon entering the house by Ambrose, who happened to be walking past the entrance hall when James opens the door. He backtracks and hugs his brother, before grabbing Dolley in a hug she wasn’t anticipating.

When he pulls away, he puts a hand on her shoulder and says, “You must be Dolley!” he looks pointedly at his brother, smiling, “Jemmy has told us absolutely nothing about you!”

“That’s not true.” James says quickly, “You know plenty about Dolley.”

“Yeah, I know she’s your girlfriend, and I know she’s standing right here,” Ambrose says, patting her shoulder, “and I know she’s holding a box. That’s about the extent of my knowledge.”

“It’s fine.” Dolley says quickly, “there’s not a lot to know.”

“Humble.” Ambrose says, “but you must have something going on. Why else would you be dating dear Jemmy?”

James starts to say something, but Ambrose grabs his arm and pulls him further into the house; Dolley follows them quickly, “So reserved.” Ambrose sighs, “you grew up here, Jemmy James, you’re allowed to walk farther than the entrance hall.”

“I lived here longer than you.” James says.

Instead of responding to him, Ambrose pushes James into the kitchen and announces his and Dolley’s arrival loudly. Before he turns away, he says, “we both lived here until we were eighteen, so we’ve been here the same amount of time.”

James doesn’t argue with him because Ambrose disappears at the same time their dad appears, engulfing James in a hug and then Dolley, who has to fumble with the pie box in order to properly return it. When his dad pulls away, he looks curiously at the box, “Is this all you brought?”

“Our bags are in the car.” James says at the same time Dolley says, “This is a pie.”

“A pie?” his dad inquires, “what kind?”

“Raspberry.” Dolley says.

He smiles, “Why, that’s my favorite kind of pie.” he says; she offers him the box and he takes it, “I should probably turn this over to Ellie before I eat it all myself.”

He laughs, so Dolley follows his lead and laughs, too.

James’ mom appears suddenly, grabbing her son in a hug that visibly startles him; he squeaks and his mom squeezes him, saying, “Of course you absolutely had to show up while I was in the bathroom.”

James leans into his mom, “Sorry.” he says.

She waves him off, letting go of him and moving to engulf Dolley in a hug, which clearly surprises her. Free of the pie box, she returns it easily, and Eleanor says, “It is so wonderful to finally meet you!” she pulls away from her, “oh, you’re so lovely. James, isn’t she lovely?”

“She brought us a pie.” James’ dad says, holding up the pie box.

“Oh? What kind?” Eleanor asks.

“Raspberry.” James’ dad and Dolley say at the same time.

Someone comes down the stairs and turns the corner to come into the kitchen; it’s Nelly, with Frances very close at her heels. Nelly hugs James, and then Dolley, but Frances stays in the doorway. Nelly looks back at her and says, “Frances, come say hello to your brother!” she says, but Frances shakes her head.

“Frances, come here.” Eleanor says, and she skirts around the rest of the people to stand by her mom, basically hiding behind her. James’ dad steps away, taking the pie Dolley brought into the kitchen.

“I just came down to greet you,” Nelly says, “I never know when I’m gonna see you, Jemmy. You’re like a cryptid.”

“Good.” James says, and Nelly laughs.

She turns to Dolley, “me, Mary and Sarah,” she pauses, leaning down to look at her little sister, “and  _ Frances _ ,” Frances smiles and scoots further behind her mom, “are all up in Sarah’s room, if you wanna join us.”

She makes it sound like an offer, but her hand is already around Dolley’s arm and she’s already pulling her towards the stairs. “Come on, Frances!” she calls after her, and Frances listens this time, following her at a distance, obviously wary of Dolley.

…

Mary and Sarah are sitting on the floor of her room, leaning against the bed, when Nelly pulls Dolley into the room, “Jemmy’s girlfriend is here, so we’re finally even with the guys.”

Frances follows them inside the room and sits down right next to Sarah; Nelly sits down on the floor, so Dolley follows her lead and sits down next to her, across from Mary. Mary extends her leg and taps her foot on Dolley’s knee, “Fellow in-law.” she says.

Dolley blushes, “me and James aren’t married.”

Sarah looks up at her from her phone, startled, then she understands, “Oh, I thought you meant my dad.” she says, “and I was like, well I  _ hope  _ you’re not married.” she laughs.

“Sorry.” Dolley says, “I wouldn’t call your dad by his first name. I just - I call James… James.”

“He doesn’t look like a James.” Nelly says; she reaches into the middle of the circle they’ve haphazardly formed and starts stacking the red and green cards laying there back into piles, “do we want to play again?”

“Sure,” Sarah says, setting her phone down, “you wanna play another game, Frances?”

Frances nods; Mary says, “do you want to play?” she pauses, “sorry, I don’t know your name.”

“Dolley,” Nelly and Dolley say at the same time; Dolley continues, “what game is it?”

“Apples to Apples.” Sarah says.

“I don’t know how.” Dolley says, “I don’t wanna make you explain, so it’s fine.”

“Have you ever played Cards Against Humanity?” Mary asks, and Dolley shakes her head, “Oh. Well, it’s like that. It’s really easy, it’ll take thirty seconds to learn.”

…

Frances, it turns out, loves Apples to Apples, and she keeps them playing the game with her until the sun is setting. The rest of the girls keep playing, because in addition to being enthusiastic about the game, Frances also produces the funniest answers and wins almost every single time. Mary wins one game, Nelly wins three, Dolley wins two and Frances wins eleven. She sits next to Sarah, still quiet, with a large pile of green cards at her feet and a smile on her face.

Frank appears in the doorway when Nelly is redistributing cards and announces that it’s time for dinner; when Dolley turns around to look at him, he raises his eyebrows at her, “are you Thomas’ replacment?”

Nelly laughs, “give us a minute, we gotta clean up.”

“I can clean up.” Dolley says quickly, already reaching over to take the cards out of Nelly’s hands; she feels bad for not offering to help with the food, but granted she was only in the kitchen for two minutes before she got dragged upstairs.

Mary, Sarah and Nelly accept the offer and get Frances up, promising to meet Dolley downstairs. Mary tells her she’ll save her a seat next to her and then they leave Dolley alone. She puts the cards up quickly (the green ones aren't hard to collect since Frances had all of them) and sets the box on Sarah’s desk, hoping that’s an okay place to leave the box. When she walks out of Sarah’s room, she almost runs into someone else trying to go down the stairs.

Elizabeth looks taken aback by Dolley’s presence; she’s been upstairs all day and missed the arrival of Nelly, Ambrose, Frank and James. Dolley apologizes for almost running into her, but Elizabeth just grunts and turns down the stairs. Dolley follows her quietly, deciding not to introduce herself since Elizabeth doesn’t seem very interesting. The upstairs hallway light wasn’t on, but once they’re downstairs it’s easier to see Elizabeth and the many layers of eyeliner she has on.

…

James has already been boxed in between his mom and Ambrose at the table, but next to Ambrose is Mary, who saved a seat for Dolley. Dolley sits next to her quietly, and next to her sits Nelly, who immediately inquires about how little food Dolley has gotten for herself.

Dolley fails to think of an excuse fast enough, so Nelly takes her plate and dumps half of her food onto Dolley’s, and then stands back up to replace it on her own. Dolley, blushing, does her best to separate the food now on her plate and then waits for everyone else to sit down.

They say grace and everyone else digs in, but Dolley goes slow. The amount of food on her plate now that Nelly had scraped half of hers onto it was probably going to be too much for Dolley to finish, so she has to pace herself. She figures if she’s still not done by the time everyone else is, she can avoid looking rude by refusing seconds. By the time most people are done and are going back for seconds, she’s only halfway done. 

Eleanor tells Dolley she should get more even though she’s not finished; she didn’t see Nelly dump half her food onto Dolley’s plate, so to her it looks like Dolley hasn’t touched her food. Dolley says she’s okay, but when Eleanor gets up to get herself seconds, she takes Dolley’s plate with her and brings it back with even more food on it. Dolley thanks her, but she knows she either won’t be able to finish the food or she’ll make herself sick trying. She doesn’t want to offend James’ mom - she’s worried she may have already done so by looking like she hasn’t touched her food - so she starts on the food that’s in front of her and prays she doesn’t get offered anymore.

She manages to finish what’s on her plate, but not without being uncomfortably full. Nelly gets up with Frank and Ambrose to go into the kitchen and get dessert, which consists of pudding James made with Reuben once they got there, and the pie Dolley made. Dolley is so focused on not making a face from overeating, she barely hears Ambrose when he asks if Dolley wants pudding or pie. He gives her pudding, since Dolley made the pie, and she’s so startled by more food getting set down in front of her she doesn’t know what to except stare at it.

“It’s banana flavored.” Reuben announces to everyone who takes the pudding. 

Dolley, not in the mood to disappoint a nine year old, picks up the spoon given to her by Nelly and takes a bite of the pudding.

She wasn’t given a lot, thankfully, so she manages to eat it without making her stomach hurt anymore. She even scrapes the side of the bowl to make it look like she really enjoyed it, which she probably would have if she didn’t feel like she was about to throw up. She gets plenty of compliments on her pie, but she finds it difficult to be happy about them right that second.

Eleanor stands up with the pudding bowl, which is still half full, and asks if anyone wants anymore. A few people accept, and finally Eleanor asks if Dolley wants anymore.

“Oh no,” Dolley says quickly, “I’m full. Like, I’m really full.”

“Are you sure?” she asks, “you’re awfully skinny, hon, are you  _ sure _ you don’t want anymore?”

“I’m sure,” Dolley says, “it was very, very good but really, I’m so full.”

Dolley offers to help with the dishes, and since she’s one of the first to get in on the job she’s one of the few who end up at the sink. But when she stands up from the table, she immediately feels ten times worse. She still takes her plate into the kitchen and helps with the dishes, but she wants to finish them as quickly as she can so she can go out to the car and get her bag. When she finishes helping with the dishes, she goes out to their car and gets her bag out of the back. She wants to bring James’ bag in with her, too, but just lifting her own bag makes her feel like she’s two seconds away from vomiting, and it’s not even that heavy. She wonders for a moment if it would be a good idea to throw up outside in the dark, where no one would be able to see or hear her, but she figures in the morning someone would be bound to come outside and notice it, so she decides it can wait.

As she’s bringing her bag in and she’s walking through the hallway, she’s trying to calculate her options. Eleanor left to go upstairs and put Frances and Reuben to sleep. Elizabeth went back to her room as soon as she could be excused from the table. James’ dad, Ambrose and Mary are all in the kitchen doing something at the smaller dining table that’s making a loud clacking sound. Will and Frank were in the living room when she walked past. She doesn’t know where James is. There are four people upstairs and five people downstairs, so throwing up in the bathroom upstairs means less people would potentially hear her. But, Eleanor is up there, and Dolley worries if  _ she  _ hears her throwing up, she’ll think Dolley didn’t like the food. She already thinks Dolley was only picking at it earlier, and Dolley doesn’t want to test her luck.

As Dolley turns the corner to go up the stairs, Eleanor is coming down them, “Oh, Dolley!” she says, smiling, “are you going to join us for dominos?”

“Dominos?” Dolley asks.

“Yes, dominos!” Eleanor says, “it’s a family tradition, of course not everyone plays. Reuben and Frances are too young, and Elizabeth hasn’t wanted to join the past few years. You should join, too!”

Dolley is desperately looking for a way out of the conversation and up the stairs, “I don’t know how to play.”

“Oh, it’ll take two minutes to learn!” Eleanor says, “you should join us.”

Dolley can’t think of another excuse, so she says, “Sure - sure thing. Let me just put my bag up.”

“See you in a minute,” Eleanor says cheerily, and when she rounds the corner and can’t see Dolley anymore, Dolley drops the smile and moves up the stairs as fast as she can without making her stomach feel like it’s made of a jagged rock.

When she gets to the top of the stairs, someone is in the bathroom, so Dolley turns and goes into James’ old room, where he’s sitting on the edge of the bed on his phone.

He looks up at her, “Hey.”

“Hey.” Dolley says, setting her bag down and leaning down; she makes a noise while doing so.

James frowns, “Are you okay?”

“Someone’s in the bathroom.” Dolley says, distractedly, going through her bag and pulling out her toothbrush, but not the tooth paste.

“There’s one downstairs - ”

“No.”

“No?”

“I need to throw up.” Dolley tells him bluntly, and James looks startled; he sets his phone down on the bed.

“Are you sick?” he asks worriedly.

“I ate too much.” Dolley tells him, and then the bathroom door opens and Elizabeth comes out, so Dolley turns and crosses the hallway as quickly as she can; James follows her. 

…

When Dolley is done throwing up and doesn’t need James to hold her hair back anymore, he offers to go downstairs to get her a ginger ale and try to talk his mom out of making her join the dominos game. When he comes out of the bathroom he closes the door behind him; Frank is walking down the hallway, coming from his room where he was charging his phone.

“Hey,” he says, “dominos is about to start.”

He makes towards the bathroom door, and James tells him, “Dolley is still in there.”

Frank pauses, “Oh?” he says, “What were you doing?” he asks, with a knowing face, and James rolls his eyes.

James doesn’t want to announce to Frank that Dolley just threw up, Instead of responding, he goes down the stairs and into the kitchen, where his mom is pouring her and her husband each a glass of wine. “Jemmy, are you joining the game?” she asks.

“Maybe in a minute.” he says; he opens the fridge and pulls out a ginger ale.

Eleanor frowns, “Are you feeling okay?”

“I’m fine,” James says, “this is for Dolley.”

“Is  _ she  _ feeling okay?” she asks.

James pauses, and then decides he can’t lie to his mom, “she just threw up.”

“Is she sick?” Eleanor asks, clearly worried, knowing full well if anyone in the house is sick, James will be sick in less than a day.

“She’s fine,” James says, “she just - she ate too much. She made herself sick.”

“Oh,” Eleanor says, “well she barely ate anything at dinner.”

“Nelly thought the same thing,” James explains, “so she dumped half of her food onto Dolley’s plate. Then when you saw her plate she’d eaten half of what she had in total and she said you probably thought she hadn’t touched it.”

Eleanor pauses, “Then I got her more food.”

“And she finished that. And then Ambrose gave her pudding.”

“Well she didn’t have to  _ eat  _ all of it.” 

“She said she didn’t want to be rude.”

James looks down at the can of ginger ale in his hands, then back up at his mom, “tomorrow, can you maybe just let her go at her own place? I promise she eats as much as she can on her own.”

“She looks like she needs to eat more.” Eleanor says.

“Mom,” James says, “Please. If you keep giving her food, she will keep making herself sick.”

Eleanor hesitates, but she agrees. “Are you going to join us? Or are you going to go take care of Dolley?”

“Let me go give this to her,” James says, “I might come back.”

“Okay.” she says, “I hope she feels better.” she pauses again, “she makes wonderful pie for someone who doesn’t eat much.”

“I know.” James says.

His mom smiles at him, “She might be my favorite daughter-in-law.”

James blushes, “You only have one daughter-in-law.”

“For now,” Eleanor says, “you should hurry up with that.”

She winks at him, and he blushes harder and tries to leave the kitchen; she calls after him, “If you wait too long you won’t have as many kids!”

“Oh no!” James says, knowing full well he and Dolley don’t want any.

…

“I got you a ginger ale.” James says when he comes back upstairs, “it should make your stomach feel better.”

Dolley is sitting on the edge of the bed, “Thank you.” she takes the can and opens it, taking a tentative sip.

“My mom says you don’t have to play dominos.” James tells her.

Dolley pauses, “What did you say to her?”

“Just that you weren’t feeling well. And you weren’t picking at your food at dinner, Nelly gave you half of hers and you ate that. I told my mom you’re probably just adjusting to Virginia.”

Dolley takes a longer sip of the ginger ale, “Are you going to play dominos?” 

James hesitates, “Maybe.” he says, “depends on how you’re feeling.”

Dolley waves him off, “I’m fine.” she says, “I don’t wanna prevent you from family tradition.”

“You’re playing tomorrow night.” James tells her.

“You’ll have to teach me how.” Dolley says.

“Okay,” James says, “I’m gonna go down. Text me if you need anything.” he grabs his phone off the bed and puts it in his pocket, then gives Dolley a quick peck on the lips, “I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

“Oh, by the way,” James says, “you already aced the final. Everyone loved your pie and my mom wants me to marry you.”

Dolley blushes, “Didn’t she feel the same way about Thomas?”

**Author's Note:**

> the dominos tradition is based on my own family, rip


End file.
